collision detection: Superman, you <i>suck</i>

November 19, 2004

Superman, you suck

Here's a surreal bit of research: Apparently the mere act of thinking about Superman makes us suckier people. A couple of researchers discovered this by accident, while they were pondering the intriguing effects of "priming" -- using a couple of suggestive words to affect someone's behavior. Researchers have known for a long time that exposing subjects to words can affect their behavior; for example, one study showed that people exposed to helpful words were more likely to help a friend pick up some spilt pens.

Those effects are normally pretty short-term, so the researchers wanted to know how long they'd last for. So they took a bunch of students and asked them to write up a list of attributes of various superheroes, one of which was Superman. Later, they were given the opportunity to volunteer for a community program. The results? As the New Scientist reports:

Students who thought of Superman volunteered much less of their time than those who thought about other superheroes. Furthermore, Superman-primed subjects were significantly less likely to show up at a meeting for volunteers held three months after they were initially asked to participate.
The reason, believes Nelson, is that asking people to compare themselves to an exceptional individual makes them realise their shortcomings. Whereas thinking about a general category encourages people to identify the strengths they have in common.

(Thanks to Noah for this one!)

Posted by Clive Thompson at November 19, 2004 07:48 PM

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Comments

What does this say about Jerry Seinfeld?

Posted by: Derek at November 19, 2004 8:33 PM

I wonder if it applies in reverse -- that is, do people that talk about all of our infamous fallen 'celebrities' -- i.e. JLo, Scott Peterson, Martha Stewart, and, sure, Paris Hilton, subsequently feel better about themselves?

I would think that's probably true (although doubtful it has any connection to volunteering or anything). Maybe Court TV should have "The Feel Good Network" as a tagline.

As for Derek's comment about Jerry Seinfeld, all I can offer, appropriate to Seinfeld and Superman, is this from Boing Boing

Posted by: jason at November 20, 2004 11:25 AM

All of my adult life people have consistenly told me that I look just like Superman (no, I'm not kidding), and I can tell you, it's not easy even looking like a superheroe. Despite the difficulties I encounter as a walking reminder of other people's inadequacies, I am happy to report that a group of overly zealous Mormons raked my yard on one occasion, and on another helped me load a moving truck.

Posted by: daniel luke at November 20, 2004 9:58 PM

Heh.

Posted by: Clive at November 21, 2004 8:32 PM

Further evidence of the superiority of Batman.

Posted by: Jonathan Korman at November 22, 2004 4:01 PM

"The reason, believes Nelson, is that asking people to compare themselves to an exceptional individual makes them realise their shortcomings."

or the lazier people simply chose superman because he's an easily identifible and popular character - the really sad part in this is that the scientist who can't even make such a simple and obvious conclusion is likely receiving a unnecessarily large grant

Posted by: JE at November 29, 2004 5:45 AM

Jonathan, hey, I always preferred Batman too! I like my superheros to be at least partly nuts.

JE, I wonder if they controlled the group for "level of familiarity with superheroes"?

Posted by: Clive at November 29, 2004 6:52 AM

My mon Bats, he don't shiv.

Posted by: Jonathan Korman at November 29, 2004 1:22 PM

I await the experiment in which the superhero in question is Harvey Pekar.

Posted by: Jesse at December 3, 2004 7:12 PM

This evidence seems to support David Carradine's (or rather Quentin Tarrantino's) interpretation of Superman expressed in Kill Bill Vol. 2. That was the first time that I, at least, had seen Superman interpreted as an insult to humankind.

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